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Well… Ashley and Liz put a hold on their neverending TBR pile and rearranged the entire podcast schedule to yap with y’all about this book. Silver Elite by “New York Times bestselling author” Dani Francis (🤔) has taken the book world by storm seemingly overnight and had to investigate for themselves with their very first conspiracy episode. 👽🛸👽 OooOooO Spooky.

"In this episode of Besties and the Books podcast, hosts Liz and Ashley dive into the viral dystopian romance novel Silver Elite by the mysterious Dani Francis, launching their first "conspiracy theory" episode after so much discord and controversy from this book's debut. They dissect the book’s striking similarities to Fourth Wing, speculate on its sudden rise to fame, and explore wild theories about the anonymous author’s identity—including the possibility that it’s a pseudonym for a canceled author, a male writer trying to enter the romance space, or even an AI-generated experiment. They also compare Silver Elite to Red Tower’s Shield of Sparrows, which was oddly released on the same day, and critique the writing for its lack of character depth, inorganic romance, and robotic spice scenes. Along the way, they share personal dystopian media favorites and fails, emphasize their skepticism about Silver Elite's hype, and encourage listeners to join the fun—and the speculation."

And… is it actually good? It’s dystopian, it’s fantasy… it’s enemies to lovers in a military setting… but how does it stack up to other books in the same genre? Find out what we thought about it and if we think it deserves the hype… and what we think about the extremely “similar” book published on the exact same day by Red Tower? 👀

Go down the rabbit hole with us as we investigate. And don’t worry, we have a dystopian fave and fail and smash or pass locked and loaded for ya!

Don't be shy, subscribe! New Podcasts every Tuesday!! (And sometimes Friday!…)

Check out these author interviews? ⬇️

We interviewed Callie Hart all about her NYT Bestseller Quicksilver! Watch it here! | https://youtu.be/CED5s7qDBdQ?si=8xtIRO1IzX6Rsld4

Check the official Author Interview with Lindsay Straube of Split or Swallow! Now a Barnes & Noble & Amazon best seller titled: Kiss of the Basilisk! https://youtu.be/fknhocSNIKM

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Shop bookish apparel worn in this episode!

Ashley is Wearing: Lord of the Rings "Even Darkness Must Pass" T-shirt from @etsy | * https://go.magik.ly/ml/2cqg0/

Liz is wearing: Book Dragon Crewneck by @readbyerin_ | https://shopreadbyerin.com/password?fbclid=PAQ0xDSwKrWBVleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABp68SFgFpy9NrtMxA2nANvSKVSehZTwGU6RbeMKvsb4wyhLUy4-Tex4bVAXFW_aem_892_3BIjMKphutGnBUtU7w

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